Sword Among Us
Sword Among Us - Chapter 18: Secret Technique, Blood Cycle Slash

Three years of lying dormant and practicing hard had resulted in Happy learning many beginner level skills from various sects very well. He could even exchange a few blows with the sword servant in Purple Bamboo Forest, let alone with a normal player whose skills had yet to reach the ninth realm.

He had the ticket to victory firmly in his grasp from the beginning, but since he was too far away from Villain Li Shan and the two people came up to him on their own, he decided to treat Wu Hou as a free sparring partner who came up to his doorstep. Thus, he started practicing his Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword, which he had just learned.

Sword techniques were different from fist techniques.

Weapons could increase the lethality of one’s skills. Even Li Shan would find a hard time to last under the sword. Since there was someone who was willing to keep him company, Happy was rather happy to practice his skills, even though the two players had malicious thoughts.

Happy had sensed a degree of pressure from them at the start. The Complete Reality Sword Technique at eighth realm still threatened his life, but even so, the techniques of martial arts could be used to restrict each other.

As long as he could tell the minute details and Wu Hou’s actions when he attacked, Happy could predict his next action and his target in a split second. Then, he could make his decision beforehand.

As they exchanged blows, his sword technique naturally improved.

There were only so many styles in a sword technique, and once he waited until his opponent used up all his strategies, the fight after instantly became much easier. Happy was able to handle it with ease, and slowly, he broke free from the absolute disadvantage he was originally in.

In less than five minutes, there was no longer any sign of underestimation on Wu Hou’s face. There was only sweat from him handling the situation gravely as well as paleness that came from indignation!

It was incredibly humiliating for him to not be able to defeat Happy after a long fight, and Happy was even younger than him. As time passed, he could tell that Happy’s sword technique, of which he only knew the basics at the start, swiftly reached a breakthrough.

With the help Wu Hou provided by serving as a sparring partner, Happy’s skill improved by leaps and bounds. Soon, he reached the middle realms, and Wu Hou’s sword technique began to be at a slight disadvantage.

The ingenuity of Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword gradually showed itself!

Nine Palaces Sword and Eight Trigrams Steps fused into one.

‘I see, so that’s how it is.’

Happy continued investigating the Nine Palaces Sword Style of Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword, which contained lots of changes. As he did so, he continued to figure out and fuse this skill with the essence of the Eight Trigrams Steps which he had learned in his previous life and had not used for a long time. Once he did so, there was no way he would not improve at light speed.

When his sword technique reached the fifth realm, his speed could somewhat keep up with Wu Hou’s Complete Reality Sword Technique. As long as he wanted to, he could even seize opportunities to attack.

But at the end of the day, low-tier martial arts were still low-tier martial arts. They had many intrinsic defects and insufficiencies in various aspects. Before their user reached Grandmaster Realm, which was the pinnacle of perfection, all of their skills could be shut down and counterattacked.

But Happy did not intend to defeat his sparring partner’s confidence. He still wanted to enjoy the fight. This was a free service, so he continued defending and practicing his sword technique.

“Damn it!”

Happy’s strikes became steadier with each hit, and it showed the essence and profundity of Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Sword, but as Wu Hou continued fighting, it became very difficult for him to maintain his composure. His sword technique had very obviously had the upper hand in the beginning, but now, for some strange reason, he sensed that Happy was becoming better. This pushed him into an increasingly more awkward situation, which seemed ludicrous for him.

He became rash and impatient, and there were a few times when his sword technique missed its target.

“Luo Xiaotian!”

Wu Hou could no longer take it anymore and called for help.

The man watching the fight had already figured out that Happy was very unusual. He had an internal struggle for a little while before he finally gritted his teeth and tapped the ground. Then, with his saber lifted, he joined the fray.

“You came at the right time!” Happy said coldly.

He had lamented about Wu Hou losing his composure just then and was worried that it would be difficult for him to keep the fight going, but when he saw Luo Xiaotian join the fight, a solemn but delighted expression immediately appeared on his face.

However, Luo Xiaotian’s skills seemed to be better than Wu Hou’s. His saber had a red glare, and there was a faint murderous aura surrounding it. When he brandished the saber, it would dazzle other people.

Blood Wheel Saber!

Happy quickly recognized that his technique belonged to Blood Saber Sect.

Based on the strange sight of the person’s motions being guided by the saber, he could tell that his Blood Wheel Saber had reached the ninth realm. Otherwise, the blood-red light would not appear in streams around it.

Happy instantly felt the pressure increase!

If it were not because he had experienced the strange effect of high-tier martial arts being better than low-tier martial arts multiple times, he would have fallen into the enemy hands a long time ago. This would certainly happen to any other normal newbie when they had to go up against multiple people, even if they also had a ninth realm martial art at their disposal.

Blood Wheel Saber was a technique that gave up on defense and focused only on attacking at full strength. It was a skill that aimed to kill enemies, but would also damage its user in the process. It was incredibly lethal, and the rhythm of its attacks was above many low-tier martial arts!

With a Complete Reality Sword Technique at the eighth realm attacking him as well, Happy instantly faced a dangerous situation. He struggled to cope with it; he was like a small boat rocked about in a violent storm and could sink at any time…

Of course, the greatest amount of pressure came from Luo Xiaotian.

It was as expected of a Blood Wheel Saber at the ninth realm. The layers of blood-red light flew up and down. They were like millions of lions moving through yellow sand. Their murderous intent was great, and they pressed forward boldly!

If Happy was not experienced and didn’t focus on only moving about using Eight Trigrams Steps while he tried to understand the word dismantle in the incantation of Nine Palaces Sword Technique, he might have lost and died at the tenth blow.

The Noble Sword also provided a certain amount of help to Happy.

If this weapon were not on par with masterpieces and had incredible durability, it would have chipped and cracked a long time ago, which is what happened with normal swords when they were used to face opponents whose levels were much higher than that of their owners.

Lift! Push! Pull! Guide!

All the potential of the key features of the word dismantle contained within the incantation of Nine Palaces Sword was brought out to its limit by Happy. He spun around swiftly on his feet like a top to avoid the attacks of the duo, but he did not remove himself completely from the fight. His Noble Sword moved about with agility, and wherever it went, it showed an unyielding will.

Luo Xiaotian and Wu Hou’s expressions changed completely once they saw that he was able to do this…

They felt as if they had run into a formidable enemy while admiring him from the bottom of their hearts. They also lamented their decision to engage him in a fight.

Happy had actually managed to use a normal weapon and a skill he had just learned to fight against two opponents who were much more skilled than he was for a long time without the slightest hint of being on the verge of losing. This alone was a very unbelievable matter.

If the fight was uploaded online, it would definitely be on trending, but if that happened, the duo’s reputation would be completely ruined…

The two of them already regretted their decision.

Why did they have to set their sights on a monster like this?

‘He can be as flashy as he wants since he has the ability to do so. Ah, damn it, being narrow-minded truly ruins things.’

The duo cursed in their hearts, but they did not dare to show the slightest bit of disrespect in their attacks. If others knew that they could not take down a newbie who had just joined World of Martial Arts even after they started working together, how were they supposed to live in this world and make a name for themselves?

After all, Luo Xiaotian was a person who had crafted some reputation for himself in the game. When he saw that he could not defeat Happy even after a long time had passed, he suddenly withdrew his saber, and the blood-red light entered his body. Before Happy could show any surprise, an even more astonishing presence exploded from Luo Xiaotian’s body!

His face turned red, and he gripped his long saber tightly!

Happy instantly sensed an incredibly dangerous presence come from him.

Happy’s eyes flashed. He sensed a faint stream of air gather at Luo Xiaotian’s feet, and alarm bells went ringing in his head.

He suddenly remembered something. It was a memory from his previous life, one he had not recalled for a long time, and it was a spark…

“Take this! Blood Cycle Slash!”

Luo Xiaotian had already completed gathering the qi in his body. He roared suddenly and flew into the air! He was like a cannonball, and his speed swiftly increased by several fold. The brilliant blood red glare from his sword had retreated previously so that it could gain an advantage now. It instantly slashed down on Happy, and the powerful wind brought with it a momentum that could tear apart anything. It even froze the air around them.

The secret technique that required qi from Blood Saber Sect—Blood Cycle Slash!